The Bill of Rights was aimed at restraining government

With so many opinions of the Second Amendment to the Constitution inundating us, a bit of clarity is warranted.

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution – the “Bill of Rights” — were designed to restrain the federal government from trouncing on the rights of states and their citizens. (Remember that we were supposed to be a limited federal republic of sovereign states, not the national behemoth of today.)

The Second Amendment enshrined in the Constitution the right of the people of each state the ability to defend themselves against tyranny.

As per Thomas Jefferson, “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

Additionally, the right to own weapons for self-protection and hunting was so axiomatic as to be beyond dispute (sorry, Democrats).

However, since the Bill of Rights applied to the federal government, and not the states, each state retained the right to regulate use of arms as it saw fit (sorry, Republicans).

The distortion of foundational constitutional precepts by power-hungry politicians and judges has served to destroy the concept of federalism, and has needlessly complicated the understanding of our own Constitution.